Category — music

Just got back from Muse electrifying’s concert at the Agora in Cleveland.

Standard set list for this concert (Update: Exo Politics and longer Assassin were new for Muse at Cleveland show) — but it fucking kicked ass.

Opened with Knights of Cydonia (Watch the perfectly cheesy video below) — closed with Stockolm Syndrome. Loved it. Good moshing. Good times.

NASA decided to go old-school, New Wave of Grecian Heavy Metal by naming their new spacecraft Orion after the instrumental on Metallica’s epic Master of Puppets.

Now, air-guitar along with me: Chunk, chuck, chunk-chunk Chunk. Chunk, Chunk Chunk Chunk. Chunk, chunk-chunk Chunk. Chunk.
Does this new name mark the return of the balls-to-the-wall, thrash metal NASA of the 60s? Or will NASA continue to be the therapy-coddled rehab patient of the 90s and 00s that just rehashes the same show launch after launch with nothing much to show?

Let’s hope NASA returns to being a master of spaceflight – no longer a puppet of budget cuts and unfounded presidential decrees. You know, the NASA every high school boy dreamed about being a part of, before all the “Behind the Rocket” specials on cable TV, the fights to keep other countries from stealing NASA technology without even paying for it and the dreaded Lollapalooza implosion of 1996. (Whoops – make that the Challenger explosion of 1986. What the hell am I writing about? Metallica?)

Master of Puppets was released in 1986, a pivotal year for both Metallica and NASA. The album was Metallica’s apogee and the tragic, deadly end of their tour in support of the record began the band’s slide back down to mere mortality.

1986 was a low point for NASA, and not only because the agency lost an entire crew when the Challenger blew up during lunchtime. Rather, the fact that NASA was sending a teacher into space as a publicity stunt said a little bit more about the pitful state of America’s space mission. Truth laid bare, there was no longer a scientific reason for NASA to exist.

Truthfully, the Orion is another Federal boondoggle that keeps engineers and scientists working in towns like Cleveland. Working, instead of being unemployed like most everyone else who used to build shiny metal craft that went fast. As sources will point out, spacecraft for people don’t help us explore the universe.

Another fun fact about our shiny new speed demon: According to greek mythology, Orion died being stung by a Scorpion. Watch out for a flying hunk of German power metal, brave Orion!

Thanks to the great font site dafont.com for the assist.

Hot Damn. Thanks to Black Holes and Revelations, Muse has become my OFFICIAL FAVORITE BAND®.

Here’s a look at some of the songs that have conquered my iPod since I got an advance copy of the disc, which is out July 11.

• Take a Bow. The album begins with a 2:34 second crescendo in Take a Bow and rarely lets up.
  
  The first five times I listed to this song, I wanted the song’s build-up to resolve in a massive, brain-jolting riff. It ends up with powerful but plodding guitar.
  
  After listen number six or so, I’m willing to let this song be what it is — a dynamic beginning to a great album.
• Starlight. This is what Billy Corgin wants the new Smashing Pumpkins to sound like. Seriously.
• Supermassive Black Hole. A quirky, crunchy single available on iTunes now.
• Map of the Problematique. Normally, when a song has a pretentious name, it’s a pompous mess. “Problematique” rises above its title — it’s the best song on the album.
  
  “Problematique” is one part Depeche Mode, Blue Man Group and Radiohead’s “Where I end and you begin”
• Assasin. Starts out like the Knight Rider theme, but without the Hasselhoff baggage. A Rocker ™. Dream Theater wishes they could write rock like this.
• Exo-Politics. Quotes exactly from Guns ‘N Roses’ “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” 1:05 minutes in: Sky … Sky … Sky. Oh, and Matt Bellamy belts it out of the park.
• City of Delusion. A jangley beginning gives way to prog-rock creamdom that — and this could be the Kool-Aid talking — manages to make the mariachi band that shows up 3:29 into the song bearable.
• Knights of Cydonia. I only mention this song because it was going to be the title of a Rush album, before those Canucks went with the more commercially viable “2112.” All kidding aside, this is another “Drink the Kool-Aid” song that you either love or roll your eyes at.
  
  My ears perked up 3:45 into the song when they paraphrase Pink Floyd’s Echoes in a gigantic sonic swell.
  Anyway you approach it, it’s a odd choice for the first single.

So, let’s review why this album has so much going on for it:

1. Cover art by Storm Thorgerson? CHECK
2. Pretentious songs and song titles? CHECK
3. Quotes from Pink Floyd, King Crimson (I hear it on Hoodoo and elsewhere), Depeche Mode, Blue Man Group, Radiohead, Fourth Estate and other prog-rock music? CHECK

Do yourself a favor and buy the best rock album of 2006.

Plastic pogs rule. More on the stars at latimes.com

Electric Six: We Love George Bush

Originally uploaded by dketterick.

The hardest rockin band in the land rocked Cleveland at the Grog Shop Friday night for the second time in a year.

It was no joke as the Electric Six kicked into April with bombast and cockiness.

The setlist was superb: Vibrator, Improper Dancing, Gay Bar, Danger! High Voltage, Devil Night, and my favorite: Bite Me. The show ended after many encores with Dance Commander — reprising the song for an extra 5 minutes to keep the frenzied crowd moshing.

Highlights: Rock N Roll Evacuation, Bite Me (to which I moshed), Dance Commander (to which everyone moshed).

Rock Kills Kid opened with a tight setlist. They’re power-pop in the vein of The Killers, but not as dumb. Very good, I purchased Paralyzed Friday. Their third song was their best — I need to figure out which song it was. Check out their site for more free streaming music.

The Fever held the second slot. They didn’t hold my attention.

Hallahan enjoyed the show, as well

podbop.org is a nifty way to sample artists coming to a town near you.

The site is already doing great in my book — it reminded me that the Electric Six are coming to Cleveland soon.

Better Living … helped get a song out of my head and onto my ipod.

Benny Benassi & The Biz invaded my head this weekend when a Wendy’s commerical featuring a hamburger EQ bouncing up and down got me to stop fastforwarding through commericials and watch.

Wendy’s did the right thing and put the commercial on their website. (Sadly, they did not provide a permalink to the commerical. )

Every commerical should be on that company’s website. If you spent the time and money to put the spot out there, let people watch it when they want to, if they want to.

In fact, why didn’t they link to the iTunes music store so that visitors could buy the song, and Wendy’s would get some money for referring everyone?